Tag Archives: portrait

Those of you following me on tumblr will have seen this image come up again…and again…and again…at various stages in the process. This was a test on two things: to create a mostly realistic portrait of one of my characters, and to finally get around to doing an improved version of the previous make-up test, this time by giving myself a base face, and then painting on top of that, with the final goal of getting something looking like a fashion shoot.

Here’s a quick summary of the things I learned/did:

I like to refine a picture.

It’s hard to see in the web-friendly versions, but for the top two faces I textured the skin by running a dry-brush over it, following the main muscles. This had the side effect of lightening the skin and unifying the colour – and I also used it to exaggerate the saturation in some parts. Next time I’ll try using a sponge instead.

I’m a bit less apprehensive of soft-edge, glazy brushes now. This picture made much more use of soft gradations and gentler edges than what I’m normally used to.

Most of the art I’ve been making lately hasn’t been for public viewing. But here’s some stuff I can show –

Concept for a poster for Manafumi‘s Japan tour, World Colours. I kind of like the abstract mix of colours, but this idea wasn’t suitable. I tried experimenting with a more standardised bishounen look for this, and as a result the character looks generic, and not much like Manafumi at all!

So I tried my hand at some proper sketch studies…

Here is the result of about an hour and a half drawing off photographs. By the end of it, I was more focused on trying to represent what I saw correctly, in tones, rather than actually pushing his features around and experimenting with style. It was good practice, but next time I think I’ll go for a more caricatured approach.

I’ve also started up a livestream channel. I don’t have a schedule yet, but I do plan to livestream more sketch sessions! I’ll be posting notice of this on twitter.

One last picture – here are some concepts for a logo for Women in Games: